While West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices are being determined at Cushing, Oklahoma, the cross roads of crude oil transmission in the U.S., some wonder about the all-time highs and lows in the past decade or so. One doesn’t have to go back far to find them.
Fox Business News recently explored the subject and reported its findings.
A light, sweet crude oil that is traded and delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key U.S. hub, it’s typically produced in the Permian Basin, located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, but can come from other locations.
The price of a WTI barrel is determined by supply and demand factors that are considered by traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is owned by CME Group.
WTI prices surged to a record high of $145.29 a barrel, on July 3, 2008, as stagnating oil production was met with increasing demand, especially from emerging economies. Speculators and a weakening U.S. dollar have also been blamed for catapulting prices higher.Fast forward to April 2020 and WTI crude oil plunged to a record low of -$37.63 a barrel on April 20 as stay-at-home orders designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced global demand by about 30 million barrels per day at the same time Russia and Saudi Arabia, two of the world’s largest producers, were engaged in a price war.
Source: Fox Business News